4 ms·

"Conspiracy theory" most of the time means exactly "legitimate criticism that the article/TV/politician wants to gloss over".

cbd1984 11y ago
Uh, no, it mostly means "insane hypothesis which no amount of evidence can disprove but which some people will believe in regardless", such as the conspiracy theory that Jews perpetrated 9/11 or that vaccines cause autism or that Obama was born in Kenya.
abritinthebay 11y ago
No, usually it means "something with no shred of legitimacy or basis in facts that supporters will nonetheless defend with vitriol". But nice try.
- Karunamon 11y ago
  Unfortunately for your snark, the facts are against you. Fact 1: Ahmed claimed to have "invented" this clock in a video. He did not. It is proven without a doubt to be a radio shack clock's guts stuffed in a case. Fact 2: The clock was powered via AC, meaning no beeping (one thing all accounts report on) unless it was plugged in. Which it did. Who plugs in an alarm clock in English class? Fact 3: His engineering teacher, the guy he supposedly brought it in to show, told him to leave it with him / not show it to other teachers. He did otherwise. Fact 4: There is no legitimate evidence that this incident was based on race. Plenty of white kids getting kicked out of school for toy guns. Fact 5: His dad is a known political agitator, most famously for a koran-burning incident in Florida a while back. Taken alone, any one of these things don't really mean much. Added up, there aren't many scenarios that look good for him. I really don't see why this is so outlandish to consider - it takes knowledge that school admins are generally idiots, combined with a misguided desire to either highlight a legitimate problem (said idiocy or islamophobia, take your pick), or plain old fashioned fame seeking. Not exactly rare mindsets.
  - blakeyrat 11y ago
    > Fact 1: Ahmed claimed to have "invented" this clock in a video. He did not. It is proven without a doubt to be a radio shack clock's guts stuffed in a case. So what? That's irrelevant to the reason people are interested in this case. (Nobody cares what exactly he built, people care that he was arrested despite it being completely harmless.) > Fact 2: The clock was powered via AC, meaning no beeping (one thing all accounts report on) unless it was plugged in. Which it did. Who plugs in an alarm clock in English class? There's a 9-volt battery cable clearly visible in every photo of the clock. > Fact 3: His engineering teacher, the guy he supposedly brought it in to show, told him to leave it with him / not show it to other teachers. He did otherwise. He earlier set the alarm, then forgot that it was set. > Fact 4: There is no legitimate evidence that this incident was based on race. Plenty of white kids getting kicked out of school for toy guns. I'll grant you that one, but regardless of the kid's race the reaction of the school staff and police was utterly unacceptable. That is the important thing about this story. > Fact 5: His dad is a known political agitator, most famously for a koran-burning incident in Florida a while back. So what? > Taken alone, any one of these things don't really mean much. Added up, there aren't many scenarios that look good for him. No, this is at best irrelevant stuff ("he didn't really build a clock!") and at worst conspiracy theory ("his dad is a political agitator!") stuff. I had no clue there were so many conspiracy theories in play around this simple story so soon after it broke, nor that so many people on HackerNews would be conspiracy theorists, or I probably wouldn't have posted in this thread at all. Because seriously, this is ridiculous.
    - Karunamon 11y ago
      The reason he was arrested was due to possession of a hoax bomb, not a misidentified not-bomb. That first thing is against school and state rules all on its own. After it was determined more or less that there was no intent to make something that looked like a bomb, he was released. And as to lying about it being an invention: "Goes to character, your honor" The 9V battery is responsible for maintaining settings in case of a power outage - I've got a clock similar to (but much newer than) that one on my nightstand - it does not power the device on its own. He disregarded his eng. teacher's instructions. If the "important thing" is that the police/teachers overreacted (which isn't in question.. zero tolerance is dumb), then why is the media, the goddamn president, and half of this thread trying to make it a race/islamophobia issue?

cbd1984 11y ago

Uh, no, it mostly means "insane hypothesis which no amount of evidence can disprove but which some people will believe in regardless", such as the conspiracy theory that Jews perpetrated 9/11 or that vaccines cause autism or that Obama was born in Kenya.

abritinthebay 11y ago

No, usually it means "something with no shred of legitimacy or basis in facts that supporters will nonetheless defend with vitriol". But nice try.

Karunamon 11y ago
Unfortunately for your snark, the facts are against you. Fact 1: Ahmed claimed to have "invented" this clock in a video. He did not. It is proven without a doubt to be a radio shack clock's guts stuffed in a case. Fact 2: The clock was powered via AC, meaning no beeping (one thing all accounts report on) unless it was plugged in. Which it did. Who plugs in an alarm clock in English class? Fact 3: His engineering teacher, the guy he supposedly brought it in to show, told him to leave it with him / not show it to other teachers. He did otherwise. Fact 4: There is no legitimate evidence that this incident was based on race. Plenty of white kids getting kicked out of school for toy guns. Fact 5: His dad is a known political agitator, most famously for a koran-burning incident in Florida a while back. Taken alone, any one of these things don't really mean much. Added up, there aren't many scenarios that look good for him. I really don't see why this is so outlandish to consider - it takes knowledge that school admins are generally idiots, combined with a misguided desire to either highlight a legitimate problem (said idiocy or islamophobia, take your pick), or plain old fashioned fame seeking. Not exactly rare mindsets.
- blakeyrat 11y ago
  > Fact 1: Ahmed claimed to have "invented" this clock in a video. He did not. It is proven without a doubt to be a radio shack clock's guts stuffed in a case. So what? That's irrelevant to the reason people are interested in this case. (Nobody cares what exactly he built, people care that he was arrested despite it being completely harmless.) > Fact 2: The clock was powered via AC, meaning no beeping (one thing all accounts report on) unless it was plugged in. Which it did. Who plugs in an alarm clock in English class? There's a 9-volt battery cable clearly visible in every photo of the clock. > Fact 3: His engineering teacher, the guy he supposedly brought it in to show, told him to leave it with him / not show it to other teachers. He did otherwise. He earlier set the alarm, then forgot that it was set. > Fact 4: There is no legitimate evidence that this incident was based on race. Plenty of white kids getting kicked out of school for toy guns. I'll grant you that one, but regardless of the kid's race the reaction of the school staff and police was utterly unacceptable. That is the important thing about this story. > Fact 5: His dad is a known political agitator, most famously for a koran-burning incident in Florida a while back. So what? > Taken alone, any one of these things don't really mean much. Added up, there aren't many scenarios that look good for him. No, this is at best irrelevant stuff ("he didn't really build a clock!") and at worst conspiracy theory ("his dad is a political agitator!") stuff. I had no clue there were so many conspiracy theories in play around this simple story so soon after it broke, nor that so many people on HackerNews would be conspiracy theorists, or I probably wouldn't have posted in this thread at all. Because seriously, this is ridiculous.
  - Karunamon 11y ago
    The reason he was arrested was due to possession of a hoax bomb, not a misidentified not-bomb. That first thing is against school and state rules all on its own. After it was determined more or less that there was no intent to make something that looked like a bomb, he was released. And as to lying about it being an invention: "Goes to character, your honor" The 9V battery is responsible for maintaining settings in case of a power outage - I've got a clock similar to (but much newer than) that one on my nightstand - it does not power the device on its own. He disregarded his eng. teacher's instructions. If the "important thing" is that the police/teachers overreacted (which isn't in question.. zero tolerance is dumb), then why is the media, the goddamn president, and half of this thread trying to make it a race/islamophobia issue?